Mike Hayes's Bio
First and foremost, I am a collector and not an investor nor am I an accumulator.
My collecting coins started while in the eighth grade when my fellow classmates started showing off their circulation finds of Lincoln head cents. My Grandfather was a collector of sorts and he passed down his collection to me - being the oldest grandchild, and his namesake - and I was as proud as could be to share my inherited collection with my fellow eighth graders.
I have added and embellished his collection over the years to a point that he would have been more than proud of my acomplishments. Each coin added is done with he in mind.
My favorite design is the Standing Liberty quarter dollar, however, my favorite series is the Barber group: nickels, dimes, quarters, halves and Trade Dollars.
I have completed most of the sets I have started; most of my collection is still in raw state and is housed in either old style Whitman Bookshelf albums, newer Dansco albums or Eagle albums. Its only been in the past five years or so that I have collected on the Registry; during this period of time my grading skills have developed immeasurably with the assistance of my fellow registrants.
To pay homage to the man whose collection I inherited, I have a splendid set of Mint State & Proof coins of his birthyear, 1889.
To honor his devoted wife, my Grandmother, I have also assembled an equally superb collection of Proof coins and am working on an equally gem set of Mint State coins of her birthyear, 1891.
At the moment, one coin that seems to have eluded Barber collectors, is the 1898-O Micro O Barber Half Dollar. I was the fortunate bidder who acquired the Jules Revier Collection specimen in an NGC VF 30 holder. This coin was under Presidential Review with NGC and without the assistance of Mr. Harry Laibstain, I would not have been able to attract the attention for this coin. I was more than a bit disappointed that NGC did not attribute the coin as a Micro O, considering the Mint Mark is decidedly smaller than the normal O mint mark. Getting the first authenticated Micro O of 1898 seems to be a daunting task as most authenticators are relying on images of the 1892-O Micro O for comparison.
The cornerstone of this Barber Collection is an 1892-P half dollar - in AU 58 - which my Grandfather found in change. My father's circulation find the Mid-1930's of a 1906-P quarter - also an AU 58 - and my circulation find in the early 1960's of a 1908-P dime - again, also an AU 58 - complement each other. These three coins will never be sold and will be handed down to the oldest grandson in my family. Regretably, none of the younger generation collects coins. Otherwise I would not consider selling off anything what-so-ever.
The recent passing of my greatest supporter, my Dad, has had a great effect on my collecting habits. I've found myself wanting to sell off any collections I'm not actively working on. Seems as if once the collection is complete I loose all interest in it. Continuing to upgrade my Barber coins seems to be the only thing keeping me in the hobby.
Eventually, these treasures will have to go as well, as we never really own our coins, we just hold them in safe keeping for the next generation.
In May of 2011, my company has decided to file Chapter 11 and as a result, I have decided to take an early retirement. The majority of my Barber collection is being auctioned at the pre-ANA Heritage auction on 8/11 & 8/12/2011.
I have not given up collecting coins, far from it, I am still working on yet another set of Standing Liberty Quarters - and a new endeavor, Capped Bust Dimes.